WIRELESS AND THE TITANIC

by ALLAN BRETT VK2EBA

Since the James Cameron blockbuster movie, the events of the fateful night
that the TITANIC foundered have captured the public imagination and focused
interest on that topic. Yes! I have been caught up in the fever also. What
did happen on the night of 14/15 April 1912? 1 have looked at more documentaries,
listened to more commentaries, and read more books on the subject than
I was required to read to obtain my licence. It is a fascinating subject
- the failure of the latest and greatest technological transport masterpiece
of the then new century. In retrospect, one of the bitter historical lessons
of over confidence. But what of the part played by wireless? (Note the
use of the original name of the physical manifestation of the phenomenon
on which our hobby is based).

The story of the distress calls from the TITANIC has been repeated in
many amateur radio publications particularly the use of SOS being sent
for the first time. What actually did happen? Was this story true? Did
the operators on the TITANIC keep sending until the encroaching water flooded
their radio room? Did they go down with the ship? The answer to these questions
and many other examples of heroism and human failings which this disaster
produced can be found in the records of the two official hearings, the
United States Senate hearing, and the British Court of Inquiry.

As often happens in real-life situations, "truth is stranger than fiction".
The most recent blockbuster movie is a must see and many parts are based
on the recorded facts, however, many are not and are the result of 'artistic
licence'. One of the closest representations still remains the 1958 black
and white British production, 'A Night To Remember', based on Walter Lord's
excellent book of the same name. Those CW buffs among our numbers will
find that the Morse depicted in this film is actually readable. This film
also spends much time on the most ironic event in the chapter of calamities
which befell the stricken liner, that being the Marconi operator on the
CALIFORNIAN shutting down his operations half an hour before Jack Phillips
(the TITANIC's first operator) commenced sending distress signals.

Although Titanic's wireless room was only featured briefly in the final
cut of the blockbuster movie of the same name, no effort was spared to
recreate the original in every detail as this Douglas Kirkland photo reveals.
James Cameron's Titanic Marconi Room set was based on RMS Olympic, since
that was all the information that was available when the movie was being
made.

It was most probable that the CALIFORNIAN, which was the nearest vessel,
could have responded long before the Carpathia, the eventual rescue vessel,
but for this unkind twist of fate. You may have noticed that the TITANIC's
wireless operator was referred to as a 'Marconi' operator. Yes our old
friend Guglielmo really had the game sewn up relative to maritime communications
in 1912. The operators all worked for him and he hired them out to the
shipping companies. Wireless and the operators played a pivotal role in
the TITANIC disaster. Operators were by today's standard overworked and
underpaid. According to testimony, Jack Phillips aboard the TITANIC, forwarded
an ice warning from the AMERICA to Cape Race regarding ice about 19 miles
southward of the TITANIC's course. This message was never sent to the bridge
probably due to the work load which he had to carry. At 9.05 pm about two
and a half hours before the collision with the iceberg, the CALIFORNIAN
sent 'We are stopped and surrounded by ice.' The reply from the TITANIC
was 'Shut up. I am busy. I am working Cape Race' Cyril Evans, the operator
on the

CALIFORNIAN, stated to the British inquiry that he was not insulted
by this rebuff as the larger or faster ships took preference in sending
their traffic. Evans had a long day in any case, he had been on duty since
7 am that morning and therefore he retired to his bunk at 11.30 p.m. The
operators on the TITANIC were required to work six hours on and six hours
off. Even at the cost of 12s. 6d for ten words and 9d. for each additional
word, the passengers lined up (at least the wealthy passengers) to send
a message home via this newfangled service. The remuneration for operators,
from the evidence given by Marconi, started at $4 to $10 to $12 US per
week with board and lodging. It was no problem to fill these positions
as the rate of pay was considerably more than their land based colleagues.

Another point of interest was the age of the operators involved in the
saga. Jack Phillips was 24 years old, Harold Bride, the TITANIC's second
operator was 22 years, Cyril Evans of the CALIFORNIAN had only six month's
experience at the age of 20 years, while Harold Cottam of the Carpathia
was 21 years old. At 11:40 pm Sunday April 14, the lookout on the TITANIC
rang the bell three times and activated the ships telegraph. 'What do you
see?' came the request The answer was, 'Iceberg right ahead!' The events
which unfolded then did not have any immediate effect on the two operators.
Jack Phillips was flat out getting through the traffic which had accumulated.
Harold Bride was in his bunk but was turning out early to relieve Phillips,
who as we have seen had a heavy shift Harold Bride had just taken over
and Jack Phillips was preparing to turn in when Captain E. J. Smith appeared
and said, 'You had better get assistance'. Jack Phillips came back into
the room and took over and commenced the distress messages at about 12.05
am Monday 15 April 1912. Phillips and Bride then stayed at their posts
even after they were relieved by the Captain.

According to Bride, the TITANIC's wireless was functioning until ten
minutes before the ship's final death throes at about 2.20 am Monday April
15. As we have seen, Jack Phillips as the principal operator, came back
on duty and commenced sending CQD followed by MGY [1]. CQD was the Marconi
conventional distress signal and MGY was the TITANIC's call sign. While
SOS was also used, there was much discussion at the American Senate Inquiry
as to whether CQD actually stood for an abbreviation and if it was in accordance
with the international convention. Marconi himself replied that it was
not in accord with international convention but that it was a conventional
company signal. He went on to say that the international distress signal
decided at the Berlin Convention was SOS. The first reply to the CQD call
was from a German ship, the FRANKFURT, which although some 200 miles distant
had a very strong signal. The operator on this vessel evidently became
confused and did not recognize the gravity of the situation as twenty minutes
after being sent the TITANIC's position in latitude and longitude, he sent
'What is the matter?' This proved too much for Phillips who snapped back
with a message to the effect that the FRANKFURT's operator was a fool and
to keep out This may have been injudicious as was pointed out in the American
Senate inquiry, but as it turned out the FRANKFURT was much too far distant.
In the meantime, another more promising reply had been received from Harold
Cottam on the Carpathia. Cottam received the TITANIC's call merely by chance.

Like Evans, the CALIFORNIAN's operator, he had been on duty since 7
am and was due to turn in for the night but he still had his headphones
on awaiting a reply from another vessel when he overheard Cape Cod trying
to contact the TITANIC with a bunch of messages. (Remember this was 1912
and the range of transmission was restricted and much of the traffic relied
on third party transmission). Imagine Cottam's surprise when he called
the TITANIC with, 'I say OM do you know there is a batch of messages coming
through for you from MCC?' (Cape Cod's call sign), and received, 'Come
at once it's CQD, OM. Position 41'46N, 50'14W'. Cottam replied, 'Shall
I tell my Captain ? Do you require assistance?' The cryptic reply was,
'Yes come quick.' Despite Cottam racing to the bridge with the CQD message
and the consequent awakening of Captain Rostron, the master of the Carpathia
and his heroic efforts to push his ship beyond its capabilities, it was
about 4 hours before they arrived at the scene, too late to save the 1,527
who perished, but in time to rescue those who had survived the night in
lifeboats.

Phillips and Bride remained at their posts after being released from
their duties by Captain Smith until they could no longer transmit due to
the failure of the generators. They had been in touch with other ships
and stations including the TITANIC's sister ship, the Olympic. When they
came onto the deck, all the lifeboats had long been launched and some of
the officers were attempting to get off the last collapsible boat which
was attached to the roof of the officers' quarters. The attempt was only
partially successful, the boat being washed off as the TITANIC broke apart
and sank.

The lifeboat ended up inverted with Bride being trapped under it in
an air pocket. He was eventually able to extract himself after a considerable
time and make his way onto the top of the overturned boat. Phillips also
managed to make his way to the same boat but died of exposure during the
night Bride survived with frostbitten feet and injured ankles and was picked
up by the Carpathia. Bride's participation in the actual events was not
to end there as he was carried to the wireless room of the Carpathia towards
the end of the survivors trip to New York to relieve a totally exhausted
Cottam who had been on duty since receiving the 'come at once' message
from the TITANIC. Bride received $1000 and Cottam $750 for the sale of
their stories to the press of the day. These payments caused some controversy
at the time as it appeared that the Marconi Organization had told them
to maintain their silence until they reached New York thus depriving a
news hungry public news of the tragedy.

As a result of the part played by wireless in the events surrounding
the loss of the TITANIC, 24 hour radio watch was introduced. The strange
set of coincidences which resulted in one radio operator shutting down
at a critical time and another contacting the stricken liner by pure chance
would not be permitted to happen again. On the debit side, the TITANIC
operators actions in ignoring and not passing on several ice warnings contributed
to numerous oversights which when taken as individual events, could not
be regarded as serious, but when combined reached overwhelming proportions.
For the operators, it was clearly a case of overload of often frivolous
messages from the wealthy passengers. On the credit side, both operators
stayed on even after they were released from duty by the Captain, only
ceasing transmission when their spark failed due to the failing generators.
The sending of the first SOS distress call was made at 12.45 am on 15 April
1912.

The Captain had called at the wireless room to ascertain the progress
of the attempts to summon assistance and enquired as to which distress
call was being sent CQD was the reply. Bride recalled that SOS had recently
been agreed as the international distress signal and suggested that Phillips
might send that as well, 'it might be the last chance you have to send
it', he added prophetically. There was little emphasis given to this historic
event in the evidence presented to the US Senate inquiry at which Bride
and Marconi appeared. CQD was the Marconi company distress signal.

Phillips and Bride were both Marconi men, and so were almost all of
the participants in the passing of messages that night with the exception
of the operator on the FRANKFURT (the operator who was called a fool by
the frustrated Phillips). Did the operator on the FRANKFURT recognize the
CQD message? 'Certainly' replied Marconi. Although the wireless equipment
on the FRANKFURT had been supplied by a German company and SOS had recently
been adopted by the Berlin Convention, it was a Marconi company of which
Marconi was a director and as such used the Marconi conventional signals
and in any case, CQD was more widely recognized than SOS. (This is an example
of the almost total control which Marconi exercised over the 1912 maritime
communication scene with the Marconi distress signal being rated above
the international signal). As stated in the opening to this discussion,
the story of the TITANIC is one of human failing, sacrifice and endeavour,
and the night when WIRELESS CAME OF AGE.

FOLLOW ON TO THE STORY....

The Discovery Channel produced a documentary, titled "Last Mysteries
of the Titanic." and in doing so, it captured some ROV footage from inside
the Marconi Room. It was examined in both 2001 and 2005. Here is the analysis
report from the technical advisor (Parks):

"The Marconi Room itself, along with the adjacent operators' sleeping
quarters, was completely destroyed during the sinking. There is nothing
but an open area left. The room's original boundaries can be determined
by the pattern of paint remaining in the overhead and dangling electrical
wires which once led to light switches and a heater control switch mounted
on the walls. An electrical distribution panel for the ship's lighting
system that was once embedded in the forward wall of the Marconi cabin
now hangs down by its wires, with a couple of fuses showing evidence of
having blown.

The skylight over the operator's desk is gone, leaving an open hole
in the overhead. The only piece of equipment that could be found
in the room was the accumulator charging switchboard, which lies face down
on top of the sediment that covers the deck, still connected by wires.
Everything else in the room was evidently carried away by the water, presumably
aft into the large open space that housed the Grand Staircase.

The adjacent Silence Cabin, though, survived the sinking, thanks to
the extra thickness of its walls to accommodate sound-proofing. The
transmitting apparatus survived largely intact and is now completely accessible,
thanks to the organisms that have eaten away the walls of the room.
When the room was last seen in 2005, the AC/DC switchboard and field regulators
remained mounted on a fragment of wall. The glass on the AMPERES
and VOLTS dials were still intact on three of the four gauges, the lettering
still visible. The knife switch on the AC side of the board is still
closed, but the knife switch on the DC side is open, indicating that operator
Phillips deliberately shut down the station before departing. The
regulators show the last settings of resistance used to sharpen the spark
as ship's power became increasingly unstable.

The switchboards hang on the wall above the motor-generator set.
The top of the teak box housing the rotary spark generator is locked in
the open position, indicating that operator Bride must have been
listening to the spark as he adjusted the regulators. The condensers
and transformer sit unaffected by the tragedy. The jigger was mounted
on the wall above the condensers and with the wall behind it eaten away,
is held upright only by the copper bands connected to it. The wood
of the jigger box has been largely eaten away and it will soon fall to
pieces. The brass earth arrester for the aerial and tuning lamp,
once mounted on the wall next to the jigger, are still held upright by
connecting wires. The HF spiral inductance coil has also fallen from the
wall to lay atop the bank of condensers. The two choking coil boxes
lie atop the transformer, having also fallen from the wall. The bank
of emergency accumulators sit next to the transformer

There is a pile of debris that accumulated aft and to port (outboard)
of the Marconi rooms in the remains of a passenger stateroom. It
is possible that some of the Marconi radio items were captured in this
debris pile, instead of being pushed aft into the Grand Staircase void".

Spud Roscoe VE1BC and Parks, add some other background information to
Titanic radio story:

1. CQD and SOS were both authorized distress signals at the time of
the Titanic's maiden voyage.

The 1906 International Radiotelegraph Convention in Berlin established
the 600-metre (long wave) and 300-metre (short wave) as the two wave lengths
authorized for general public service. The normal wave for shipboard use
was established at that time as the 300-metre wave. Call-ups were
made on the normal wave, then the conversation could then be moved to another
wave, provided that was it was under 600 metres or over 1600 metres. The
1912 International Radiotelegraph Convention in London reaffirmed these
two waves and designated the 600- metre wave as the normal wave length
for ships to use. Distress calls were to be made on the normal wave
(600 metres, or 500 kHz). The 1906 Convention was the first to establish
common frequencies.

2. The M prefix was applied to all Marconi call signs on January 1st,
1908, however the "M" prefix was usually not transmitted between Marconi
stations as a shorthand between familiar operators. If broadcasting
in the blind, or talking with another ship that was not Marconi equipped
(like a German Telefunken boat), then the entire call sign was used.
This is before 1912. After the 1912 Convention, the call letters were
more standardized and the first letter denoted country, rather than company
(although, with Marconi based in England, Great Britain was assigned "M"
as one of its first call letters).

3. The four letter signal flags assigned each ship and the radio call
sign did not become one and the same until January 1st, 1934.

4. The British did not use "de" as the separation signal. They used
the letter V and at least the Navy used it until after World War II.

5. As a rule, all ships were to use the coast station nearest their
position.. But Regulation XXXV, paragraph 2, of the Convention Service
Regulations allows for more distant coast stations to be used under certain
circumstances. In that instance, a wave length of 1800 metres was
to be used.

6. By 1912, though, most ships and coastal stations were working
the 600-metre wave...in the July 1911 issue of the Marconigraph, the installation
aboard Olympic (Titanic's sister ship) was "arranged to tune in transmissions
to waves of 300 and 600 metres...". Harold Bride also described both 600-
and 300-metre waves in his testimony. According to the Marconi maintenance
manual for the 5-kW apparatus, the adjustment of the closed oscillating
circuit for the production of the long (600-metre) wave was to place the
banks of the main condenser in parallel; for the short (300-metre) wave,
in series. Inside the Titanic wreck, it was observed that the
Swiss commutator was in the parallel position, which means that Titanic
was using the 600-metre wave when she sank.

7. Cyril F. Evans, the wireless operator in CALIFORNIAN with call sign
MWL, did not transmit an ice message to TITANIC. Cyril Evans simply transmitted
CQ V WL and then stated they were stopped in ice for the night in the position
Captain Lord had given him. This message was for all ships in the area
and not just the TITANIC. Jack Philips in TITANIC received this so loud
he simply chastised Evans for interrupting him while trying to transmit
a multitude of messages from his passengers to the Cape Race station with
wireless call sign CE.

Cyril Evans did not properly prefix his message by adding the code "MSG"
in the preamble. According to Evans, he used an informal call up,
"SOM" (Say, old man), then his message. Harold Bride later related
in court that Jack Phillips responded to Evans's informal interruption
with a curt "D-D-D", the silent signal at the time. If Evans had
used the "MSG" prefix, then Phillips would have paused with Cape Race and
taken the message for acknowledgement.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Titanic's visual call sign was HVMP. This information is taken from
the "General Register and Record Office of Shipping and Seamen", 1912.

In rememberance of the 100th anniversary of the Titanic disaster, Canada
Post issued this stamp set in eraly 2012. (Image courtest Canada Post)